Asian Window

S. Mitra Kalita in the Wall Street Journal

His victory is a global one. Across the world, 30 million members of the Indian diaspora have largely come to see Mr. Singh as their symbol of a new India. There have been gestures small: his 2005 extension of “overseas citizenship of India” that allow Indians to freely live, work and travel between multiple homes. And the big: his stewardship of a nuclear deal that could mean a windfall of contracts to their high-technology firms.

But the main reason the turbaned Mr. Singh gained the world’s respect is for what he is not: corrupt, calculating, self-aggrandizing. And with admonitions like his plea for more austerity in corporate India back in 2007, when the country’s gross domestic product soared 9%, Mr. Singh kept an eye on what got him into office in the first place.

This recession has forced many countries to rethink the role of government in an economy. India though has been in this quandary for much of its existence-and the 76-year-old Mr. Singh and the leaders of the party that brought India to independence knew this better than anyone else. More:

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